, 1887-06-29
The Sun at his farthest North.
(FOr Toang Readers)

sS6ub mOQIQ, WhS uAO AOA6O0v NWy ySt
that is to say it was then that the daylight
here lasted longest, and you must have OBJ
served that the daylight has been gradually
frightening since the beginning of the year.
Now we have passed the longest day and soon
You will perceive that the days are getting
shorter and the nights longer, till in six
months time we shall come on the 22nd of
December to the shortest day, and of course
the longest night. Some of you will perhaps
remember that / wrote for you three months
ago something about "the sun crossing the
line, and tried to show you how the earth
would look if you could see it from q consldera-
BILE distance, and I now want you to join me
again in taking a similar view, only this time
we will choose the hour of sunrise, and | have
on this occasion tried to help you by a
diagram, which you will find on a loose sheet
accompanying this paper. Now when you
look at the diagram you will know at q
glance that it is not intended to represent
the earth's appearance. Ifyouhave read what
was written before on that subject you
will remember that the earth as seen from a
great distance would look like q very large
moon, that you would see the continents and
islands. as brighter portions, and that you
would be able to distinguish the polar regions
by the special brightness arising from the
vast extent of snow which covers them; you
Will dlSO I6I1SulD0E b1dG 4 was ~
slow the motion would appear to you, and
that the beautiful shining globe would stand
out on a perfectly black background. The
lines of the diagram bear no resemblance to
all this, yet they will help to explain the pre-
sent position of the earth in regard to the sun
Just as well, or perhaps even better, than a
view of the earth itself would help without
them, although we will not fail to keep such
q view in mind. Let us now look at the dia-
gram, and first there will be something to
.say about the circle to the left hand, which IS
meant to stand for the earth. The circle,
you must remember, is the space shut IN by
the ring, and not the ring itself, which Is on
ly the boundary or circumference OF the circle.
The earth, as you we'll know, is not a circle,
but. globe. So, if this circle is to represent
the earth for us, we must take 1T as standing
for q half-globe or hemisphere rising up from
the paper. Suppose an orange were cut IN
two through the middle, and one half were
placed with its fat side down on the paper
over the circle, while, if you like, the other
half were put on the other side OF the paper
with the fiat side upwards, towards the first
half, we should then have a good illustration
of how this circle is TO be understood. Now
to the right hand Of the paper you will
see an arrow, which is meant to show in
what direction the light is supposed to be
coming from the sun, and you will see that
the half of the globe facing that way is lit up
by the sun, while the half on the other side
is in darkness, as shown by the shading in
the diagram. Perhaps you will ask why l
have not put q circle to stand for the sun,
instead of this arrow showing the direction of
the light. 1t could have been done certainly;
but you will get a much better idea of the ac-
tuaI condition of things if you will think OF
the sun as represented by a circle about ITO
times as wide as the circle which stands for
the earth in the diagram, that is about 40
feet wide, and then think of such a large cir
Gle as being about three quarters of a mile
away to the right. This represents the true
proportions. and as the Avis Office could not
provide each of you with a strip of paper
three quarters of a mile long, nor a sheet 40
feet square to draw the sun upon, and as
there might be other difficulties in the way,
have preferred to use the dotted lines and
the arrow.
Let us now take our distant view
Of the earth. We shall soon see that the
bright patch Of the north polar district is
thrown forward towards the sun, and if we
watch the direction taken by the different
points OF the land as they roll slowly out of
the darkness into the light and so forwards,
we.shall see that they do notsmove straight
across, but in q slanting direction ~downwards,
as shown in the diagram by the small arrow.
We CholI time diccnvnr that tho oarth,S ayiSn r